Girls’ hockey: Cheverus pulls a surprise

BIDDEFORD – Katie Roy made her final high school game in her hometown a memorable one.

Roy scored four times Wednesday night to lead fifth-seeded Cheverus to a 7-4 victory against fourth-seeded Biddeford in a Western girls’ hockey quarterfinal.

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Cheverus defenders Kate Brewer, left, Katie Roy and Paige Severance, right, converge on Brea Rivard of Biddeford during the second period of Cheverus’ 7-4 victory in a Western Maine quarterfinal Wednesday night. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Abby Biegel of Cheverus celebrates between teammates Paige Severance, 24, and Katie Randall after scoring early in a 7-4 victory against Biddeford in a Western Maine girls’ hockey quarterfinal Wednesday night. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Cheverus (6-12-1) had lost four of its last five. Biddeford (10-8-1) had won four of its last five.

“I feel like the best thing is being the underdog,” said Roy. “You have nothing to lose at all. We just came in hard and I wanted to beat my hometown. We all just came together, we clicked, we worked as a team and that’s what got us to where we are now.”

The Stags will face top-ranked Scarborough (16-1-1) in a semifinal at 9:10 p.m. Friday at the University of Southern Maine.

Abby Biegel of the Stags scored 2:50 into the game, converting a rebound from a Paige Severance shot to give Cheverus a 1-0 lead.

Biddeford had a great chance to tie moments later when Katherine Dumoulin had a breakaway from center, but she was denied by goalie Taylor Courtois, another Biddeford native. The Stags led 1-0 after one.

“You always want that first goal and get ahead, just to keep the momentum going. You keep building off it and building off it and you get so excited,” said Roy.

Cheverus used a quick-strike offense in the early stages of the second to move its lead to 3-0. Roy scored the first of two goals in 1:07 when she worked herself free from behind the net and beat Cassie Ellis between the pads to make it 2-0. On the next shift, Katie Randall pounced on a loose puck in the crease to make it 3-0.

Biddeford called a timeout to settle things down and it seemed to work. Dumoulin and Dalani Roy both showed good speed through the neutral zone and scored back-to-back unassisted breakaway goals to make it 3-2 with just over five minutes left in the period.

“We’ve done that several times where we’ve used a timeout against teams and we’ve come and scored pretty quickly,” said Biddeford Coach Ashley Potvin. “When you do that you have to hold on to that momentum and carry it through to the next play. We did that but unfortunately then we let them score.”

The Stags restored their three-goal lead in quick succession. Just 37 seconds later, Roy scored her second of the game and Sam Sessler struck 43 seconds after that to give Cheverus a 5-2 lead heading into the third.

Roy completed her hat trick early in the third to make it 6-2, but Abbie Paquette and Taylor Turgeon scored a pair of goals in a 44-second span to get the Tigers back within two.

Cheverus then put it away when Roy scored her fourth with five minutes remaining to set up a date with the Red Storm.

“Scarborough’s a great team,” said Cheverus Coach Amy McNally. “We’re going to have to find a way to score on their goalie and shut down their rush in the middle, and have good coverage in front of the net.”

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